


A Lovely Shade of Bored

by Imbecamiel



Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, Humor, archiving an older story previously posted to LJ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27534655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imbecamiel/pseuds/Imbecamiel
Summary: Even the Ancients liked practical jokes. Unfortunately, some of them were never sprung by their intended targets.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	A Lovely Shade of Bored

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for a mixed fandom fic challenge with the requirements that it be 250-400 words, include a female character, and the prompt: Use this sentence in your beginning paragraph: "You know...there is nothing as tempting as a locked door."

Sheppard scowled at McKay. Sure, _now_ he clammed up. "You know...there's nothing as tempting as a locked door."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "As an explanation, somehow that falls short of helpful." 

“Yeah, sorry.” Sheppard’s expression blended both sheepish and innocent, the fact that his left arm was in a sling and he sat awkwardly to avoid aggravating cracked ribs adding a pitiable air. Elizabeth wavered on the edge of softening – but no. She _would_ get a proper explanation from them.

"So… there’s this room near Rodney’s lab. He can’t figure out what’s in it, and it’s been driving him crazy –"

Rodney made an indignant noise. "Only because whatever _idiot_ Ancient it belonged to entered _nothing_ in the database! Honestly -" A glare silenced him. 

" _Anyway_ , he couldn’t get in the door. They had some really weird security setup, and he was hoping with my stronger gene I could help override it. There were no indications it was dangerous – and he _did_ check – and I was kinda bored, so I decided to try."

The prospect of stopping the pestering had helped, too. That’s how he knew Rodney was getting obsessed – admitting Sheppard’s ATA gene sometimes worked better than his artificial version always rankled.

"We did get it open," Sheppard continued. "Turns out it wasn’t an experiment at all. It was an Ancient _practical joke_ that never got sprung." He gave Rodney a venomous look.

Rodney cleared his throat. "Apparently it wasn’t designed to be dangerous, but after 10,000 years components had deteriorated, causing it to explode when finally triggered by our entrance. Colonel _Martyr_ was in front and wound up with a strained shoulder and cracked ribs when we were knocked backward by flying debris, in addition to its… intended effects."

Elizabeth’s mouth twitched. He gave her a look of aggrieved dignity.

"I’m sorry, Rodney. It’s just… hard to take you seriously when you’re sitting there with purple hair."

Sheppard self-consciously smoothed his equally dramatically-tinted hair. Elizabeth could just imagine them as they’d been found by backup, covered in purple goop, Rodney with his mouth hanging open, actually too shocked to speak. Several shampooings later the color hadn’t abated.

"'s not funny," Sheppard mumbled. "I was bored before. Now I’m on sick leave for a week. And I’m purple."

Elizabeth lost the battle against giggles as they sank down simultaneously in their seats, pink-flushed cheeks showing through faintly purple-tinged skin.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are much loved! :)
> 
> Story has been lightly proofread, but otherwise cross-posted in its original form.


End file.
